1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to hair grooming clipper attachments and, more particularly, is concerned with a vacuum or suction attachment conformed for mounting to hair grooming clippers.
2. Description of the Prior Art
To obviate concerns of professional dog groomers with breathing of fine dog hair and other foreign matter in the lungs, vacuum systems are often employed with hair grooming clippers. Typically, a vacuum system includes a suction head that is attached to a hand-held clipper adjacent to its cutting head and is connected to one end of a flexible hose. The other end of the hose is connected directly or via an intermediate conduit to a vacuum generating unit for creating a vacuum in the hose. The vacuum condition draws air into the hose through the suction head, entraining hair cuttings in the air flow through the hose to the vacuum generating unit where the hair cuttings are collected, typically, in a container.
Attachments have been developed over the years which provide a vacuum system for the disposal of hair cuttings from hair grooming clippers. One highly effective prior art vacuum attachment is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,088,199 to Romani. While this prior art vacuum attachment introduced several features which operated to remove hair clippings in a highly effective way, it required the use of screws to fasten it to the hair grooming clipper via holes that were provided thereon for another purpose. Recent clippers do not have such holes and thus the above-cited prior art vacuum attachment cannot readily be attached to these clippers.
Consequently, a need exists for an attachment design which will conform to recent clippers while still retaining the many advantageous features of the prior art vacuum attachment.